Ukrainian publisher GSC Game World has announced that they will distribute their PC strategy/role-playing title Heroes of Annihilated Empires through Valve's Steam, joining the ranks of companies who use the platform to distribute their software digitally. Steam's most well-known users include Activision and Take-Two, whose usage of the platform has fueled its rising popularity in recent months.

Valve claims that titles promoted through Steam are available to some ten million potential customers. Steam's initial success is attributed largely to the popularity of Half-Life 2 for which the service was one of the most reliable ways to get hold of the game during its very first day on sale. It has since become key to the launch of several episodic game series, including Valve's own Half-Life 2 episodes.

"We are very happy to start working with Valve to distribute our latest creation via this mighty online distribution platform," said GSC CEO Sergiy Grygorovych, adding that he hoped the relationship with Valve would be useful "both now and in the future".

Heroes of Annihilated Empires will be available on November 22 at a retail price of US$39.95.